Extra credit projects for Organic Chemistry classes

Fall 2006

1. Why is glycerol used instead of water in the bath used to heat the reaction mixture in the DOPAL experiment? GS
2. Why is racemic adrenaline used in the DOPAL experiment? GS
3. How do sulfuric and phosphoric acids compare in strength? GS
4. A possible mechanism for the formation of DOPAL from adrenaline. GS
5. Functional Groups in Diketopiperazines TC
6. Why is phosphoric acid used to dissolve adrenaline in the DOPAL experiment? SD
7. Why was methanol used over any other alcohol to carry out the Ugi reaction? JP
8. Why were methylene chloride and hydrochloric acid used to try to extract the cyclized product from the Ugi reaction? SM
9. Is the NMR of the crude spectrum of a Ugi reaction consistent with the formation of the expected product? SM
10. Why was magnesium sulphate used in one of the steps? JP

Winter 2007

1. Why is ether used as the primary extraction solvent in Experiment015? JP
2. What is the mechanism of imine formation? RG
3. What do the Rf values of suggest about a sample? JP
4. Analysis of the H NMR spectrum of piperonal KM
5. Analysis of the H NMR spectrum of boc-glycine KM
6. Analysis of the H NMR spectrum of t-butylisonitrile BJ

Spring 2007

1. Why there is an exothermic reaction between Boc Glycine and 5-methylfurfurylamine KTS
2. Optical Isomerism of Exp 66 RPC
3. Compounds Synthesized by SN2 Reactions TK